The Old Switch-A-RooBody-Swap
by 10th Muse
Summary: Something is happening in the Hotchner's household, well that also involves Emily and Sergio! Yes, it is early Halloween but hey, I'm trying to get everyone into the mood! Hope y'all enjoy this short story!


**Criminal Minds**

 **Short Story – The Old Switch-a-Roo/Body Swap**

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Early Nov 1st Sunday Morning.

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"Hotch! HOTCH!"

A sleepy Hotch barely opened his eyes as he sat up, "Wha...what are...Emily?" He looked up and around his bedroom.

Hang on...What the hell is going on?

He stood up, "Emily!"

"Hotch! Get up!"

He saw Emily beckoning to him. "Hurry up!"

"What's going on, what're you doing here? At my place?" When he stood by her side, by the door of his bedroom, his hair standing on ends.

She rolled her eyes, "Seriously, Hotch. This is not the time." She pointed at his living room. "We have a problem."

He followed the direction of where she indicated; the low table before the couch.

He breath a sigh of relief; he was expecting a burglar or something worse!

"It's a cat...and Jack. What about it?"

She nodded, "That's my cat." She backed away a step and bumped into Hotch's chest and stopped.

"What are you doing?" He asked her. Then he turned to his son, "Jack, we talked about it, we're not getting a pet. Not right now."

 _Meow._

He frowned; did his son just ...meow?

"I'm not going near him." Emily muttered.

"Emily, isn't that Sergio?"

She nodded again, "It is and it's not."

He frowned, "I don't get it."

"He talks, and it's not Serge, it's Jack."

"What?"

"Sergio is Jack and Jack is my cat."

Hotch rubbed his face, "Emily...my son is not a cat."

"I know, but somehow Jack and Sergio, they swapped bodies." She pointed at them. "I don't know what happened but it did...they did."

Hotch walked to his couch and sat down, keeping his gaze at the two who were still standing before him. "Jack, what happened?" He didn't know if he should look at his son or the cat, so he looked neither.

The cat opened his mouth, "Dad, it's me Jack."

"Your cat's talking! Did you learn some kind of ventriloquism trick from Reid?" Hotch pointed at her.

She shook her head as she moved slightly closer to the two. "No! I had nothing to do with them! I woke up ...here, and ...and..."

"Wait, wait!" Hotch held his hand up. "How did you get here?"

"That's just it, Hotch!" Emily was waving her hands about her. "I don't know! As I was saying, I went to bed...in my room, at my apartment earlier and next thing, I felt paws on my face" She mimicked her cat's paws on her face and continued. "I thought it's Serge pawing at me but he began to talk to me! But it's not Sergio...it's Jack!" She pointed at the cat.

"I did!" The cat hopped down from the table and moved around Emily's legs. "I told her to get up...I can't believe I'm a cat! This is so neat!"

Hotch stared at his...could it be true? His son who was winding himself around Emily's legs like a ...a real cat!

"Um..Jack?" He called out to his son.

The cat turned to him, "Yeah dad?"

"Er...don't do that." Hotch rubbed his face again. "It does not look er, natural, buddy."

The cat stopped and walked towards Hotch and hopped up the couch and lept onto his lap and curled contently.

Hotch looked at the cat/son and hesitantly patted him; his fur felt so soft, Hotch couldn't help but continued to rub him. "This is crazy. I must be dreaming."

In the meantime, Jack or the boy who had turned into Emily's cat, sat on the table and began to licked his right back hand and frowned as he turned to Emily, "Meow."

Emily looked at Sergio. "Yeah...I know, it's not...normal."

"Meow." He yawned widely and curled on the table and closed his eyes.

"Okay...that's kind of weird but that's so Serge." Emily shook her head. "That's when I usually stroke his fur." She lifted her hand and patted his head.

Jack smiled and actually purred!

Emily smiled and continued to pat him softly. "Definitely creepy."

Hotch watched her and his son. "Yeah, it is. I'm trying to decide if I'm having the strangest dream ever or a horrific nightmare...or both."

Emily looked up at him, "Me too. I think I sleep walked into your dream slash nightmare." She waved her free hand above her head.

He nodded, "Maybe it's yours."

She stopped patting Jack and frowned, "Could we be having the same dream or nightmare?"

He shrugged, "I don't know; I think this might be in Reid's realm."

Emily shook her head, "No...I don't think so, I think this is not a scientific possibility. I think we just stepped into a Twilight Zone realm."

Hotch shook his head, "You've been watching that rubbish again, haven't you?"

She grinned, "I'm not sure...Rod Sterling's dead, or maybe not, maybe he's in the Twilight Zone himself and he has sucked us in." She continued to patted Jack's head who had now fallen into a deep sleep on the table.

Hotch noticed the cat had also fallen asleep as well. "You know come to think of it, I just remember something, Jack was telling me about meeting your cat."

Emily turned to face Hotch, smiling. "Oh yes, he met Sergio a couple of days ago. He told me he was gonna get him some special treat..." Emily's eyes widened in horror.

"What?" Hotch stiffened as he saw her reaction. "What is it?"

"The treats...that's it!" She snapped her fingers "Jack handed me a bag of kitty treats and I fed them to him last night."

"Are you accusing my son of poisoning your cat?"

She shook her head, "No...Not exactly, I think there's something in the treats." She walked up to the cat on Hotch's lap and shook him. "Jack...Jack, wake up!"

The cat opened his eyes and yawned widely, his fangs were sharp as he stretched his paws.

Hotch could feel him digging them into his thighs. "Ouch! Easy there!" He extricated the sharp talons from his Pjs.

"Jack, it's Emily."

The cat nodded and looked up, "Yeah, what's up?"

"Where did you get the kitty treat?"

"At the store Aunt Jess took me."

"You had Jessica take you to the pet store?"

The cat shook his head, "Uh huh, she had to pick up some milk, and the old lady was giving away bags of kitty treats." He yawned again. "I thought that Emily's cat might like the treats, so I took it." He rubbed his eyes with his paw. "I'm sleepy."

"Just a little bit more, Jack." Emily rubbed his fur. "Did this old lady say anything to you?"

"She says...she says, I can wish ...wish to be anything...make a wish." He drifted off again.

Emily shook him again, "Jack...Jack, what did you wish?"

He cracked an eye and smiled, "I wish to be Sergio." With that, he was out like a light, snoozing.

Emily looked up at Hotch in horror, "Is this what I think it is?"

"That he and your cat switched bodies?"

She nodded, "For a bag of kitty treats?"

"I can't believe it!"

Emily began to laugh.

Hotch frowned at her, "That's not funny."

She laughed harder, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Stop it, Emily."

She shook her head, laughing, "Sorry, I can't help it."

He stared at her darkly, "Glad you can...my son's furry."

She burst out harder, "Furry! Oh Hotch! Stop it!"

"That's enough, Prentiss."

She held a hand up, "I'm sorry but that's furry...I mean funny!" She laughed even harder, tears began to leak from the corners of her eyes.

Hotch pursed his lips, dimples deepening, and soon he began to chuckle that led to high pitched laughter as she joined him.

The two laughed and laughed while Jack and Sergio slept.

Suddenly, the doorbell chimed.

Hotch and Emily stopped at the same time as they stared at each other.

"Was that the door bell?" She said in a whisper.

He nodded. "Stay here with them, I'll check." He handed the black cat to her as he stood up and left the living room.

Emily watched him withdrew his Glock from a drawer of a desk next to the wall by the front door.

A moment later, he came back, set his gun by the couch and handed her a piece of paper.

Intrigued, Emily took it from him and read it:

 _Trick or Treat_

 _Kitty's Sweet,_

 _Come Sunrise,_

 _return to thou's mind_

 _each will be._

 _Happy Halloween!_

She looked up at Hotch in stunned disbelief, "Is this a joke?"

He shook his head, "I don't know, someone slipped it under my door."

"Whoever send this note seems to know." She watched Jack and Sergio sleep. "I guess we'll have to see if this note holds true."

"True to what? That my son will change back?" Hotch glare at her. "That he'll be back to normal?"

"What do you want me to say, Hotch?" She frowned and crumpled the note, tossing it away as she walked to the window, leaning her forehead on the cool glass.

A moment later, she felt an arm on her shoulder, "I'm sorry, Em."

She shook her head. "It's not your fault, Hotch."

"It's nobody's fault." He sighed as he mimicked her gesture; his forehead on the cool glass. "This feels good."

She gave him a crooked smile. "Yeah."

He turned to face her. "Emily."

She smiled, "Yeah?"

"How did you get here?"

She faced him, her smile still on her face, "I'm not sure...I think I was dreaming about you earlier." She said softly.

"Me? What about?"

She shook her head.

In the moonlight, he could see the blush on her face and he realized what her dreams were, and a wide smile spread on his face. "OH!"

She nodded, bending her head, her hair fell, hiding the rest of her expression.

"Emily...don't." He bent slightly as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "I have something to confess to you too."

She looked up at him in askance.

"Earlier, before you appeared, I was dreaming about you too."

Emily looked stunned, her mouth slightly opened, eyes shocked wide. "Hotch."

He smiled, "Yeah, that's why I was kinda shocked to see you in here. I thought..."

She recovered from the shock and began to smile, "You thought your dream had come alive."

He chuckled, "Something like that."

She suddenly let out a yawn and quickly apologized. "It's very late, and I'd better take my cat ..." She turned to face Sergio and saw that he had moved to the couch, so that the boy and the cat were snuggled together. "Well, actually my cat is Jack, if I were to take Serge which is Jack, what's going to happen?"

Hotch had also turned to look at his son, who was the cat and the cat who was his son, and he sighed, "They do look quite happily and contented together, I think you might as well stay the night, too."

"What?" She turned to him.

He shrugged, "It _is_ very late, and you're tired. I'm not going to let you drive home by yourself."

"Hotch..."

"Look, Emily, it's the weekend," He pulled her close to him, "Why don't you spend the night with me?"

She arched a brow, "Well, since you put it this way..."

He inclined his head and nuzzled into her neck, "Hmm, this is just like my dream."

She closed her eyes, "Oh...is that so?"

He nodded, "Only it happened in my bed."

"Yes, you were doing the same thing in my bed too."

He looked up and grinned further, "What do you think?"

With a long and exasperated sigh, she smiled, "You're right, I don't feel like driving all the way home."

"Glad you see it my way!" He released her. "Shall we tuck them in Jack's room?"

She nodded, "I'll get Serge...,Jack, well, the cat"

"And I'll take the kid."

Much later, after they had settled the boy and the cat into Jack's room and turned off his light and shut the door.

Emily and Hotch entered Hotch's bedroom, "So..where are we?" He smiled as he held her hand and led her to his bed."

She grinned, "You were telling me about your dream." She slid into the bed.

He followed, "Ah yes, you were here in my bed, without clothes, in my arms." He wriggled his eyebrows mischievously, dimples deepen.

She laughed as she began to remove her nightdress, "Shall I?"

He held her hands, "No...let me, I want to start my dream all over again." He leaned over and kissed her slowly.

"Oh." Emily smiled as she returned his kiss.

…...

In the other room;

Sergio in Jack's body, opened his eyes sleepily and listened, "Oh...good. The plan worked. Now to wait till morning...humans." With another yawn, he placed his arm over the cat's body and promptly fell asleep.

Jack in Sergio's body cracked an eye open, smiled to himself, "Daddy and Emily are great for each other, Aunt Jess said so." He couldn't help but purred as he felt the warmth of his own human arm as he too fell asleep.

…...

The End

I know this is a little early! But Happy Halloween! Who knows, I might post a few more spooky short stories before Oct 31st! Hope you like this one!

10th Muse

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